The Art of User Story Writing

On paper, Ryan Harper's career trajectory looks like the "how to" guide on getting into Product Management. In reality, he's just like so many of us who found our way into managing products by doing something else we loved that touched tech.

For Harper, that love was music. Originally hired as a composer for a multimedia project, Ryan quickly became fascinated with "this idea of creating through this collaborative process." It led him to learn code and how to ready design assets and, eventually, to claim a seat at the founder's table and even declare his first pivot. It doesn't get any more "startup" than that!

Today Ryan is still playing the startup game, it just so happens to be a startup inside of Conde Nast, one of the world's largest publishers and a leader in developing innovative online publication experiences.

In this episode, Ryan shares more about his journey, how he likens product management to writing music, and inside tips from his course "Writing User Stories" which you can purchase at O'Reilly.

New York City comprises 5 boroughs sitting where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean. At its core is Manhattan, a densely populated borough that’s among the world’s major commercial, financial and cultural centers. Its iconic sites include skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and sprawling Central Park. Broadway theater is staged in neon-lit Times Square.

100 Product Managers began with a mission to interview one hundred active product managers in Los Angeles - from startups to enterprise. We didn't realize we were also pioneering the web's first consolidated and comprehensive resource for product management topics.